Syndicate of tyranny

Chapter 20

~With sticks and stone they broke my bones. With needles and knives they broke my mind~

Dax's POV
We were in Switzerland. It was quite cold at the time we arrived, but I slept most of the way anyway. We were on a huge, deserted estate, a small-ish house squatting in the middle of the estate which was bordered by gates and guards. Stace was still quite tired from the journey as we sauntered towards the house, magnificent. It was so breathtakingly beautiful I think I forgot how to breathe. In Stace's still tired state she managed to absorb the amazingness of the house before leaning on my shoulder and quietly dozing off to lala land. I asked one of Blake's guards if she could help me take our luggage in, she nodded silently and left straight after. I carried Eustace up a few winding steps before finding a room and placing her on the soft mattress.

I attempted to cook but spending all my life in a science lab really didn't teach me any basic life skills. I made some tea and brought it up to a still sleeping Stace. I placed it on the bed side table before I felt a nauseating sensation sweep over me rapidly. I ran to the toilet and leaned over as dark red and green content spilled out of my mouth. Those experiments destroyed me, but it could be much worse, I could've been dead without ever living a life, now at least I've lived a little. I washed my mouth to rid me of the foul taste lingering on my tongue, a cold metallic taste that haunted my senses for years. "Dax?" I heard a meek voice mumble, "yes?" I peeked my head around to find Stace sitting upright, "did you just throw up?" She asked, worry plaguing her face as I tried to accumulate an idea that wouldn't scare her, she sauntered over to the bathroom where I sat weakly, damn! I forgot to flush the toilet. She looked in the toilet bowl and grimaced at the dark semi-solid liquid that had spilled out of my mouth, "how long?" she asked, trying to keep a brave face and keep her voice steady, yet I could tell she was breaking, "ever since I left doll" I muttered back, resting my head on the wall behind me as I tried not to think about the broken look that was plastered on her face. "Why didn't you tell me?" She egged on, "because of that" I said, pointing to her hurt face. "Because every time I see you and don't want to see pity in your eyes". She came over to me and hugged me tightly, she kissed my cheek, close to my ear, "I just want to be here for you, I want to see you get better" she mumbled into my shirt. I let my hands stroke her soft hair as a small smile played on my lips. "I'm going to go shower because I smell like I've been dragged out of a bin" I joked as I softly nudged her head to get off my shoulder, she nodded and watched as I left her bathroom and exited the room.

After taking a long shower, which consisted of me thinking about Stace and our moment in the plane, how as we were about to kiss we got interrupted by the intercom telling us that take off was soon, I almost kissed her. Almost. I got dressed in something comfortable and then I left my room, a strong, delicious smell making me drool as I exited. I followed the smell like a dog following its owner, I found the source and something about the scene made me smile. Stace dancing around and humming as she cooked the food in the pot. She stirred it and sprinkled some black and green substances on it. Tasting it, she smiled at her own creation and turned the cooker off. She hadn't noticed me yet; I was just enjoying the scene. "Hey" I said it so softly I wondered if she could hear, "Hey Dax!" She cheered back, grinning from ear to ear. I watched as she evenly shared the contents of the pot into 2 plates. Placing one in front of me, she took the other and sat down on the table. I brought the fork up to my mouth as I devoured the savoury meal, "it's spaghetti bolognaise" she chirped, "I have no idea what that is but this is the best thing I've ever tasted", she flashed her pearly whites at me before digging into her own food.

We'd finish eating and sat in the beautiful, cosy living room. "Want to watch a film?" She asked as she leaned closer to my shoulder, I nodded and brought a blanket from the adjacent couch and covered us both with it as she scrolled through her options on Netflix. "Oh, this one seems good!" she cheered, I smiled down at her, her small figure fitting perfectly in my arms. I wanted to stay like this forever, honestly. We watched the film intently, laughing at the parts that were funny and flinching at the scary parts. We mocked the characters as they made silly decisions that would lead to their downfall, that's what I love about movies: you know they are being ridiculous before they do and they find out way to late. "Don't open the door... no! I would've just run out of the house and call the police" Stace ranted, as she expressed her feelings to me in a short diatribe that I tuned out of at the beginning, I was too focused on the characters next move. Suddenly, a loud bang echoed throughout the house. "What was that?" Stace mumbled, frozen in fear. I went to the window to peer outside, but what I witnessed sent my stomach doing somersaults. There was a mini war happening outside, yet our side was losing horribly. Stace appeared next to me and her eyes widened as she saw Blake's guards get beat and shot at. Some unrecognisable as their hollow corpse fall to the ground, sending a small cloud of dust into the air. "Go upstairs, change into your outfit, we are leaving" I hastily informed Eustace. No question asked, she scurried up the stairs. After making sure all the doors and windows were locked, I quickly got changed into the outfits Blake gave us, I made sure Eustace was done before I entered her room. As I entered, we heard glass shattering from downstairs, they're here...